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Early life and education

Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb was born in Sutton in Surrey, England in 1978. Her father, (Simon) Nick de Bohun Lipscomb,[3] educated at Cheltenham College,[4] was a police Chief Inspector working in London, and her mother, Marguerite (née Fairmaner, formerly Price)[5], was also a police officer (including with the Anti-Terrorist Branch) before working as Director of Enterprise at Kingston University, then for the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman.[6][7][8][9]

Lipscomb's grandfather, (John) Christopher de Bohun Lipscomb (1921-2002),[10] O.B.E.,[11] was in charge of a Unilever palm oil estate at Yaligimba in the Congo;[12] here he hosted the writer Graham Greene when he visited the country in the 1950s.[13]

TV career

Lipscomb wrote and presented Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home for BBC Four, first screened on 3 April 2013, and repeated from time-to-time.[22] A further two episodes are to be screened later in the year.

She contributed to five of the 14 episodes of The Secret Life Of: for the Yesterday channel, screened between 2 May - 13 June 2013. Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, Marie Antoinette, The Borgias, Louis XIV.[23] In these, besides acting as a subject expert, she also took place in historical re-enactments to experience various aspects of the life of the subject. In the Marie Antoinette episode, besides trying on one of the huge wigs favored by the French Court at the time, she also found out what it was like to be beheaded on the guillotine by taking part in a version of the magician's guillotine illusion in which her head visibly dropped into the basket when the blade was released.

With Joe Crowley she presented Bloody Tales of Europe for National Geographic. Six-part series screened between 25 March - 29 April 2013, and regularly repeated. Murder, Avengers, Monsters, Dark Arts, Tyrants, Executions.[24]

She contributed to four of the 13 episodes of Time Team, Series 20, for Channel 4. First screened between 20 January - 10 March 2013, and regularly repeated. Henham's Lost Mansions, Lost Mines of Lakeland, Wolsey's Lost Palace, An Englishman's Castle.[25]

With Joe Crowley she presented Bloody Tales of the Tower for National Geographic. Three-part series screened 16–30 April 2012, and regularly repeated. Traitors, Executions, Scandal.[26] Although acting mainly as a subject expert, she also participated in a number of experiments during the three episodes designed to investigate various aspects of life and death in the Tower. One of these, in the Executions episode, involved her taking part in the Block Beheading illusion in order to discover the level of self-control needed by Katherine Howard when she was executed.

Lipscomb often contributes to radio and television news programmes on matters historical and royal.[27][28][29]

Popular history magazines and newspapers

Personal life

On 22 May 2010, Lipscomb married Drake Lawhead at Hampton Court Palace.[34] Following her marriage, she continued to be known as Dr Suzannah Lipscomb for her broadcast work, but sometimes also used the name Dr Suzannah Lipscomb Lawhead at other times.[1][2] The couple are now divorced.